Lawnswood School

Lawnswood School Assistant Headteacher, Fiona Gilbank, tells of their journey using SuperKind and embedding social action into school life.

Why Superkind?

We have a big focus on being a respectful member of our community, and a contributing member of our community. This was a big element of our School Improvement Plan and we were looking for something to celebrate our achievements in this area, as well as rewarding the students in a tangible way.

How did you introduce the Award at your school?

The Award was promoted to staff through briefings and they were encouraged to incorporate activities into different curriculum areas to gain e.g. the ‘writing a letter’ badge. We have a strong commitment to charity fundraising and this was a way of recognising contributions, no matter how small – all students were encouraged to donate and to contribute in other ways. To ensure we reached every student, the award was attached to our in-house student reception activities, our school festival planning, and our careers drop down day. Our student leaders took a lead on many activities.

What are some examples of social actions that the Award has led you to take?

  • Student leaders organised a whole school charity event to tie in with our 180th anniversary celebrations. They planned the activities, organised to logistics, and chose the charity we fundraised for.
  • Students organised a Community Day fashion show to celebrate all the cultures across our school. They planned the activity, invited volunteers, performed, and compered the event.
  • In our termly student voice survey, we included questions about social impact that students had outside school, through organisations, family, or individually and were able to see lots of litter-picking, coaching, religious activities of a community nature, etc.

What difference has the SuperKind Social Impact Schools Award made at your school?

  • We celebrated the top badge achievers in each year group at our end of year celebration assemblies to acknowledge their contributions and raise the profile of the award.
  • We were able to share with parents that this was a focus and then share our success.
  • The award gave a focus that allowed discussion of the importance of everyone making a difference.

Looking ahead, what's next for Lawnswood and SuperKind?

We will be carrying on with this commitment and have now incorporated the badges into our school ‘Community Passport’. This will make students and parents more aware and we can begin to reflect on our journey so far.